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Recreation, Sport, Culture and the Arts
The Opening Up School Facilities for Promotion of Sports Development Scheme, launched jointly by the Home Affairs and Education bureaus in the 2017-18 school year, provides a subsidy to encourage schools to make their facilities available to sports organisations for the staging of sports activities. In the 2019-20 school year, 266 sports programmes were held by 36 sports organisations at 56 schools under the scheme.
Major Sports Events
Hong Kong is a hub for major international sports events. The 'M' Mark system aims to solicit commercial and community support for NSAs to develop sustainable major international sports events. Under this system, the Home Affairs Bureau provides comprehensive support, including matching funds, direct grants, and venue and marketing subsidy support, to NSAs to hold world-class sports events. Fifteen events were awarded 'M' Mark status in 2019.
'Healthy Exercise for All' Campaign and 'Sport For All Day'
The 'Healthy Exercise for All' campaign is organised jointly by the LCSD and the Department of Health. It recorded more than 91,500 attendees in about 1,470 programmes in 2019. The LCSD's 'Sport For All Day' promotes sport for all in the community every August by holding free recreation and sports programmes at designated sports centres in all 18 districts and opening most of the fee-charging leisure facilities to the public free of charge. In 2019, the event registered over 180,000 participants.
Hong Kong Games
The biennial Hong Kong Games promote a stronger sporting culture in the community through competitions and community activities. The 7th edition was held in 2018 and 2019, registering 3,344 athletes. Over 900,000 people took part in sports competitions and related community programmes.
Sports Funding
Recurrent Government Funding
The government promotes sports development in Hong Kong by encouraging sports in the community, supporting elite sports and projecting the city as a centre for major international sports events. In 2018-19, over 80 per cent of the $5.2 billion in overall government spending on sports development went into community-level sports promotion.
Arts and Sport Development Fund
The sports portion of the Arts and Sport Development Fund is a major funding source for sports development in Hong Kong. It supports athletes' preparations for and participation in major international competitions; the local hosting of international sports events by NSAs and other sports organisations; the upgrading of school and district programmes to boost community participation; and the development of local football, team sports, and one-off initiatives that are important for the development and promotion of sport in Hong Kong. In the 2018-19 Budget, the government announced an injection of $1 billion into the sports portion of the fund, which approved $124 million for 165 projects in 2018-19.
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